Rick Pitino implores Louisville ex-staffer to do the right thing, 'tell the truth'

Only one person can clear up what did or didn't go on at Louisville, coach Rick Pitino said Tuesday, and it's time for that individual to come forward.

Pitino, in an interview with ESPN and Yahoo! Sports, said former graduate assistant coach Andre McGee "needs to come out and tell the truth" after five former University of Louisville players and recruits told ESPN's Outside the Lines that they attended parties at a campus dorm from 2010 to 2014 that included strippers paid for by McGee.

"I don't know if any of this is true or not," Pitino told ESPN's Dana O'Neil by phone Tuesday. "There's only one person who knows the truth and he needs to come out and tell the truth to his teammates, to the University of Louisville, to his fans and to his coaches that have taught him to do the right thing for years and allowed him to be part of something special here.

"He's the only one with any answers. Whether it's true or not, I don't know. ... Everything else is absurd. I don't care about the legal issues. If he's done something wrong, he has to own up to it and do his penance."

The allegations have been detailed in a book, "Breaking Cardinal Rules: Basketball and the Escort Queen," published this month by self-described former escort Katina Powell. In the book, Powell says nearly two dozen stripping and sex parties from 2010 to 2014 occurred inside Louisville's Billy Minardi Hall, the on-campus dorm for athletes and other students.

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